France investigates terror link to Orly attack

PARIS — French anti-terrorism authorities are leading the investigation into the Saturday incident at Paris Orly Airport that left an alleged attacker dead and shut down two terminals.

The man, identified as Ziyed Ben Belgacem, a 39-year-old French national of North African origins, was killed after he assaulted a French female soldier, tried to grab her rifle and shouted, “I am here to die in the name of Allah … There will be deaths.” Two other soldiers shot him dead.

The suspect had been imprisoned several times on various offenses and was flagged to authorities as having been radicalized in jail in 2011-12, Paris Prosecutor François Molins said at a press conference late Saturday. French terrorism investigators will lead the inquiry into his attack, he added.

When Belgacem got to Orly’s south terminal, he carried a pellet gun and a can of a flammable substance in his rucksack, which he threw to the ground before attacking the patrolwoman and holding the gun to her temple.

Police sources told French media that the airport shooting may have been linked to a separate incident in the Paris suburb of Stains. At around 7:30 a.m. a man shot a police officer in the head with a pellet gun during a routine traffic stop before fleeing in a stolen car. The officer sustained light injuries.

Belgacem’s father, brother and cousin were later taken into custody, Molins said. The father was released Sunday morning, according to media reports. Speaking to Europe 1 radio on Sunday, the father said his son was not a terrorist, but someone who never prayed, and drank alcohol and took drugs.

Belgacem’s plans were unclear, Molins said, adding that an investigation is intended to determine whether he acted as a “lone wolf.”

Officials searched his home in Garges-les-Gonesse for evidence of connections to Islamist terrorist groups, but found nothing, French media say. However, traces of cocaine and a machete were discovered during the search.

French Interior Minister Bruno Le Roux and Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian went to the airport soon after the incident on Saturday morning. “He was known by the police and counter-intelligence services,” said Le Roux, referring to the attacker.

France’s government has repeatedly extended a state of emergency following a series of bombings and shootings in November 2015 during which 130 people were killed. President François Hollande said this week that the state of emergency would be in place until at least July 15, after a presidential election taking place in two rounds in April and May.

Security features heavily in the presidential campaign. All three leading candidates, former Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron, former Prime Minister François Fillon and far-right party leader Marine Le Pen, called for tougher responses to terrorism following a school shooting this week in southern France and the killing by knife of two men by a family member in Paris.